Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from R. Wearmouth

Minutes of the meetings of the Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC held on 12 July 2021, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12 July 2021, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To note the latest Forward Plan of key decisions. Any further changes made to the         Forward Plan will be reported to the Committee. (Schedule enclosed as Appendix A).

The Forward Plan of forthcoming Key Cabinet decisions was reported to the Committee.  (Report enclosed with the signed minutes as Appendix A).

RESOLVED that the Forward Plan of key decisions be noted

The Chairman has invited representatives from Automotive Transformation to give a presentation introducing the work of the Advanced Propulsion Centre which seeks to make the UK a centre of excellence for the research, development and production of low carbon propulsion technology.  (Presentation enclosed as Appendix B)

Julian Hetherington, Director of Automotive Transformation gave a detailed presentation about the work of the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The presentation detailed the research, development and production of low carbon propulsion technology. It gave information regarding opportunities and challenges that may be faced with producing the technology within the county.

The Deputy Leader thanked the Advance Propulsion Centre and commented on their professionalism and for their feedback on the project over the past 12 months.

Mr. Hetherington responded to questions and comments raised as follows:

·       The supply chain could be encouraged to locate into the county. It was anticipated that as technology and demand changed and evolved companies would be looking to expand. Some materials were already produced in the UK such as electrolytes. If there were advances in low-cost energy and energy prices decreased, it would be advantageous to make high commodity materials in the UK and a number of the materials would lend themselves to being co-located with a battery factory. There were several areas of the supply chain which were desirable and could be advantageous to locate on the same site. Anode and cathode were most desirable to co-locate due to the similarities in production and expansion size with a battery plant.

·       Northumberland would need to support the skills agenda as it was a new industry but could benefit from transferable skills from former industries. A skills development programme would have to be developed with investors for all skills levels. Further land should be made available at a reasonable cost for future expansion and assisting with planning to match the time determined ambition given by investors and continuing with the positive environment already created. Advanced Northumberland and the Local Authority had responded positively and it was encouraging to see a recognition of the national agenda being enacted at a local level. It has been a productive partnership to get to this stage.

·       Certain industries could be at risk as low carbon propulsion technology expands. However, where plants were at risk it was anticipated that many workers in existing industries had transferable skills and could move over to battery plant production with some training. There could be a shift from manufacturing metals to other newer technologies. Battery manufacturing is where most of the replacement jobs from engine manufacturing would come from.

·       Some raw materials cannot be sourced from the United Kingdom due to the geology. There were some raw materials that could be found such as lithium and nickel. There was a heavy reliance on Asia to process materials currently, however there were a number of resources that could be found in the UK. Most of the components that were on the critical supply chain path could be sourced through secure routes in the UK and the wider European area. A plan needed to be laid to illustrate security of supply to future investors. The Government was also keen to make trade deals with other countries that had resources to support the battery production such as Australia.

·       Long distance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The Committee is asked to review and note the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Monitoring Report for the 2021/22 council year.  (Report enclosed as Appendix C).

The Committee received an update on its Work Programme for the 2021/22 council year.

RESOLVED that this information was noted.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chair, should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Dissolution of the Council’s Partnership with Northumbria Healthcare/ 

Proposed Partnership for 0-19 Public Health Services - Consultation 

The Chairman agreed to consider this item as urgent business following concerns raised by a member arising from discussion of the above reports at the Health and Wellbeing OSC on 2 August 2021. 

The Chairman had invited the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Adult Wellbeing and representatives from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.  The Leader had to leave the meeting early for personal reasons and the Cabinet Member was unavailable.  Professor Alan Richardson, Chairman of the Trust and Claire Riley, Executive Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at the Trust were in attendance. 

The Chairman advised the Committee that members had previously been briefed on the Council’s position regarding the proposal to dissolve the partnership but felt that it was necessary for them to have the opportunity to ask questions of the Trust. 

·       The Vice-Chair voiced her concern that the Leader of the Council was not present and it had been her preference that the Leader and Portfolio holder be available to take questions from the Committee, which would offer members a balanced view, rather than hearing only from the Trust.

·       Members raised concerns about the conflicting information received to date from both parties regarding who wanted to terminate the partnership.  The Partnership had been highly regarded for many years and the reason behind the termination had not been made clear.

·       Members suggested there were numerous risks to the termination of the partnership, but questioned particularly the corporate and financial risk to the Council.  Financial analysis had been requested from the Council at the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing meeting on 2 August 2021.

·       members voiced concerns about the value of the partnership and felt the termination was going to affect patients and residents in Northumberland.

In response, Professor Alan Richardson, Chairman of the Northumbria Trust

informed the Committee that he had been pleased with the partnership, proud of what had been achieved and wanted the arrangements to continue, but the Trust’s Board had reluctantly chosen to terminate that partnership due to governance issues and concerns regarding future progress.   He stated that he wanted to meet with the Council to explore how the arrangements could continue, particularly as the staff of both organisations worked well together. 

In the absence of the Leader and the Portfolio Holder the Chief Executive Officer sought permission of the Chairman to address the Committee and to direct questions to the representatives of the Health Trust. The Chairman agreed.

Mrs. Lally also voiced concerns that officers had been left to answer question regarding this when the Leader and portfolio had been invited to attend the meeting.  Referring to Professor Richards comments, she sought clarification on whether the Trust was withdrawing their notice of termination to the Partnership, as there had been no indication of this recent meetings with Executives of each organisation.  Since the formal notice of termination in February, the Council have worked with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)    That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)    That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Items          Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

RESOLVED that

(a)       under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and  

(b)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

To receive a report to update the Committee on the operations of Advance Northumberland.

Jan Willis, Executive Director of Finance and 151 Officer presented this report which updated members on the governance arrangements of Advance

Northumberland.  (Report enclosed with the signed minutes).

Following the presentation, the Committee sought clarification on issues regarding future business planning, the impact of the pandemic on revenues and asset values and staffing roles.

The Committee also requested that it received regular updates on the operation of Advance Northumberland and that its representatives be invited to attend meetings to respond to member questions and comments.

RESOLVED that

(a)      the report be noted, and

(b)      further updates be presented to the Committee.